Introduction

Australia's AI agenda is rapidly moving from policy ambition to practical deployment.

With Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently announcing the creation of an Office of AI to coordinate Australia's approach to the technology, how AI and its development will be adopted is no longer hypothetical.

A key issue now for companies and their leaders is what that shift means for workplaces where AI and digital systems are increasingly shaping how work is allocated, monitored, paced and performed.

Workplace health and safety laws will change

Organisations are now on notice that the law is changing and should prepare accordingly, with governments and regulators considering the impacts of AI on workers.

In February 2026, the NSW Government passed the Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Act 2026. The Act includes a new duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that a worker’s health and safety is not put at risk by the allocation of work through a digital work system used by the business or undertaking. It also extends the existing primary duty so that workers’ health and safety is not put at risk by the use of digital work systems.

In July 2026, the Victorian Government announced proposed workplace surveillance laws aimed at intrusive and unfair uses of AI, including tighter controls on biometric monitoring, emotion recognition, covert surveillance and automated decisions affecting workers’ rights.

Also in July 2026, the Commonwealth outlined national AI safety priorities, including workplace AI safety as one of the five agreed priority areas of the tripartite Artificial Intelligence Workplace and Employment Forum led by the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations.

Those developments now sit alongside Safe Work Australia’s new guidance on artificial intelligence and digital technologies, released on 23 July 2026, which makes clear that AI and digital technologies are already a WHS issue.

Existing WHS duties, applied to new systems

Safe Work Australia’s position is that risks arising from AI and digital technologies must be managed in the same way as any other WHS risk.

That matters because many AI and digital tools are introduced through procurement, IT, operations, HR or transformation processes that are not always designed with WHS risk assessment at the centre, or with WHS teams involved in design and implementation.

Physical risks – where digital systems change how work is done

One of the clearest messages from the new guidance is that AI and digital technologies can introduce or contribute to physical risks.

For example, physical risks may arise where AI or digital technologies control the way work is done and introduce a risk, or where the technology directly interacts with workers and causes harm.

Psychosocial risks – pace, intensity and organisational justice

The psychosocial dimension may prove even more significant for many employers, particularly those deploying digital systems across office-based, customer-facing, service or distributed workforces.

Psychosocial risks may arise where systems that set or track the pace of work increase demands, particularly if they do not provide enough time for the tasks involved.

Poorly designed or outdated technologies can also increase workloads rather than reduce them.

Where routine tasks are automated, workers may be left with fewer but more complex, variable or cognitively demanding tasks.

These are not abstract concerns. They need to be considered by businesses now.

The position is not anti-technology

It would be a mistake to read the emerging guidance as suggesting that AI and digital technologies are inherently harmful and should not be used. The guidance acknowledges that AI and digital technologies can also provide opportunities to improve WHS outcomes.

What it does show is that this remains an emerging area of WHS regulation, and the direction of travel is clear. WHS regulators are likely to take increasing compliance and enforcement interest in the use of AI and digital technologies.

What organisations should be asking now

For boards, officers and executive teams, the immediate questions include:

• what AI and digital systems are currently shaping how work is performed;
• do those systems create or contribute to physical or psychosocial hazards;
• have workers been consulted about the way those systems operate in practice;
• what controls have been put in place;
• how are we monitoring and reviewing those controls?
  

For assistance on managing potential impacts of AI on workplace health and safety, contact our Employment, Health and Safety team.